


in the aftermath

by emptyskies



Series: what could've been [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Episode: s05e07 Ace Chemicals, Implied Relationships, M/M, Slight Canon Divergence, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 05:56:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18046802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emptyskies/pseuds/emptyskies
Summary: A different sequence of events leading up to the same end.OrBruce and the hospital scene.





	in the aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning to write this but, well, here you go. The idea came to me shortly after writing the original one and it's been sitting in my drafts since then waiting to be finished.
> 
> Technically this could stand alone but since it mentions the kiss from the original I'm putting them in a verse together. Also kind of implied Batcat but I'm not tagging it because it's just that, implied and not the focus of this little fic. Also I guess the Jeremiah/Bruce aspect of this fic could be considered implied as well as all we have here are Bruce's thoughts and emotions (Jeremiah is not going to pop up from his bed and talk to him) but since they are the focus they get tagged.
> 
> It's of the same or even lesser quality than the last one so read at your own risk. Hopefully it doesn't feel too out of character, I feel like Bruce doesn't really have a 'style' so to speak (like Jeremiah or Oswald for instance) so he's a little harder to write for. Constructive criticism is welcome.

The off white bandages they'd haphazardly wrapped him in did nothing to conceal the damaged skin of Jeremiah's face, burned and scarred pink from the acid. Shiny. The most colour he'd had ever since- The corners of his mouth downturned ineluctably and his empty stomach tossed and turned threateningly. Sick at the very thought, the very sight of him. He turned away- and if it were some what reluctantly, well no one would ever know- to face the girl beside him and try put this thing, this entire fiasco of a night, out of his mind.

"They've been doing scans and he has no brain activity." And the weight of the lie sat heavily on his tongue, bitter at the back of his throat even as he attempted to swallow it down. "He's no longer a threat." Bruce paused for a moment. "To either of us."

When nothing more was said, he tried again. "Thank you for coming to help me." His voice pitched low, like he's telling a secret only she is meant to hear. Even as they were the only ones left in this room. The only ones conscious anyhow.

Selina nodded her head, frizzy curls bouncing and an uncomfortable silence filled the air between them before she opened her mouth. "I-" and closed it once more. She looked to be reconsidering, or choosing her words carefully to soften the blow. Perhaps she didn't know what she was trying to say herself. He'd never known her to pull her punches and he couldn't help but wonder what could cause her to begin now.

"The night your parents were killed, I shoulda done something." Selina began slowly, her expression pained. Contrite almost and it screamed all types of wrong coming from her.

They shared a long look, conveying all the things they could never say- that Selina would never allow them to- but Bruce was never the one to leave a subject, however painful, untouched. He frowned minisculely. "Selina. You've done enough."

She huffed out a harsh laugh; bitter almost like she didn't quite believe it, and took a step back. He swallowed back an exasperated groan, if he were anyone else in any other city he'd ask himself when things had gotten so complicated; how. But as much as he sometimes wished, he wasn't anyone else in any other city. He was Bruce Wayne, orphan billionaire, in Gotham city and it left a bad taste in his mouth like nothing else ever could come quite close. His entire life had been one complication after another. At one point he might've said it had all begun that damned night in the alley but now he knew, now he knew better.

"Selina-" She held her hand up dismissively, still gloved in black leather and razor sharp metal, cutting him off as she shook her head and backed away.

In the doorframe she stopped unexpectedly, and turned at the waist so he could see her in profile. "I'm not leaving. Just- air you know?" said Selina, reassured him like she didn't constantly come and go as she pleased without a care in the world for anyone else's wants or desires.

A long moment of silence stretched between them, eyeing each other speculatively before she threw her head back with an audible sigh of irritation and rolled her eyes at the water stained ceiling. "Ugh, whatever." And left on those words.

Bruce watched her retreating back long after she was gone before he could pull himself away, to peer around the room- glance furtively at the man on the bed before him and swallowed hard when he realised his mistake. He squeezed his eyes shut fleetingly and opened them again, blinking back the tears that had begun to well up involuntarily.

There had been dreams much like this, his unwillingness to so much as think about the man he'd spent those precious few weeks with -whether it born out of a sense of self preservation or something a little more callous it did not matter- manifested into nightmarish scenarios, each worse than the next leaving him to wake in a cold sweat panting in the consuming darkness. He'd always chalked it up to guilt, pure and simple. Guilt for not being able to help his friend escape his insane brother's clutches. But here and now, as he looked down upon him, looking but never really seeing as his mind wandered back and he couldn't help but wonder if it might've been something else even if only partially.

He could still feel it; the ghost imprint of Jeremiah's devil red lips on his. Still tingling, reeling from the feel though they'd only resided there for a moment. He shook his head and frowned, breaking the ever stoic expression on his face for just a moment as he stared down as the sleeping man's face; conflicted.

"Jeremiah-" It rose up in his throat before he could even think, a harsh rasp that made him jump at the very sound. It didn't sound like him.

His fingers brushed against Jeremiah's feverish skin- like rubber, his mind supplied to his dismay and utter revulsion- and Bruce became abruptly aware of just how close he'd gotten to him. He jerked his hand back, irrationally desperate to get away as he tore his eyes away from the man's face and backed away. He- He needed-

Bruce wasn't sure what it was he needed. He inhaled sharply and shook his head as if it could possibly make things any clearer. This- this wasn't what he needed, he was sure of that at least. There was no time to be dwelling in the past, burying himself in the _what if's_ never to emerge again if he could help it; not when there was still so much to do and so little time to do so.

But first and foremost he needed to get out of here, out of this room. It was like all the air had been sucked out and he was suffocating in the emptiness. Bruce tucked his hands into his pockets and he crossed the room going into the hall without a second glance back even as a leaden weight settled down deep in his chest.

He'd find Selina and he'd- he'd do anything in his power to help Gotham. Bruce felt a little lighter at the thought, warm all over and it only served to steel his resolve. It was as good an idea as any, any he could come up with as he made his way down the hallway semi shrouded in darkness. He'd only made it as far as the main nurses' desk before he heard it, a cry of indignation and anger before the indistinct sound of something heavy crashing to the floor.

"Bruce!" And that was Selina's voice, calling for him, sending a jolt of panic through his overtired body and giving him the energy to scurry back the way he'd came.

Skidding to a stop, he came to reside in the doorframe behind her, leaning on it for support at first and took a step back in shock at the scene he found there. Selina stood in the middle of the room, body heaving from the exertion, beside the tipped over hospital bed.

The one Jeremiah had occupied not even ten minutes ago.

The curtains whipped around and cracked with the harsh wind coming in through the broken window, millions of glass shards covering the floor like a blanket and tinged scarlet with blood.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I'm not planning to add any more to this little verse but never say never I guess, stranger things have happened. 
> 
> Not too sure about the ending to be honest but it is what it is. I wrote it in like twenty minutes. Also I guess I added curtains to the window of the hospital room. I don't know how but that's what happened.
> 
> Also I should probably mention I have yet to watch season four (I've been stuck in season three for months because of my unwillingness to see Ed betray Oswald) and it dawned upon me that my mention of the time Bruce spent with Jeremiah might not actually be correct, so if it isn't. Well you now know why.


End file.
